ABOLISH THE LORDS

…there is the House of Lords Question. The abolition of this instituton expressly preserved in order to give the land owners, business chiefs,ex-generals and the Tory reactionaries a perpetual reserved right to block or delay reforms required by the people — even if it transmitted through the far from ideal electoral system which produces the House of Commons — is long overdue. At the moment of writing, it has delayed .for probably a whole year the elimination of the last traces of the infamous Industrial Relations Act as poisonous a law for the working class as was Trades Disputes Act forced on the country in 1927 by the same Tory Party which holds sway in the House of Lords. Tomorrow it may well exercise the same power of measures to accept self-government in Scotland and Wales, all the more because the obvious purpose the purely nationalist in those countries — to exploit self-government in the interests of capitalism — has aroused short-sighted opposition to the very idea of self-government in some sectiohs of the labour movement. An all-out to win self-governing Scotland and self-govern­ing Wales for socialism which one must hope will nevertheless be the ultimate decision will unquestionably meet with the hostility of the majority of their Tory Lordships … In short, the abolition of the House of Lords would not be socialism, any more than cut­ting so-called “Defence” expenditure by 50 per cent would be social­ism; or taking over full control of investments by the big monopo­lies, to turn them homeward, would be socialism. But it would be a big step to clearing the way for socialism.